h their contempt, they sought to vindicate themselves by
pleading the action of the Lieutenant-Governor in refusing to sanction
their attendance. The House then adopted a resolution under which they
were handed over to the custody of the Sheriff, and committed to the
common jail of the Home District. They formally notified the
Lieutenant-Governor, through his private secretary, of the calamity
which had come upon them through obedience to his behests, and requested
that the advice and assistance of the Crown officers--that is to say, of
the Attorney-General and Solicitor-General--might be vouchsafed to them.
They however remained in confinement only three days, for the
Lieutenant-Governor, in accordance with an intimation previously given,
prorogued the Legislature on the 25th of March--they had been committed
on the 22nd--and the power of the Assembly to commit did not extend
beyond the time when it was actually in session.

Colonels Coffin and Givins carried out their threat, and sued the
Speaker for damages for false imprisonment. The right of the Assembly to
commit for contempt was however a matter too well established, and was
confirmed by the Court of King's Bench in another cause then pending. So
that the Adjutant-General of Militia and the Superintendent of Indian
Affairs, in addition to their respective bills of costs, had their three
days' imprisonment as a reward for their fealty to Sir Peregrine
Maitland, and for their disloyalty to the Canadian people.

Sir Peregrine appears to have felt a little dubious as to how his
proceedings would be regarded at the Home Office. It was quite certain
that the Colonial Secretary would hear of the affair, but that
dignitary's approval was open to question. It would at all events be
well that the official mind should receive its first impression on the
subject from Sir Peregrine himself, who accordingly lost no time in
sending over his own version of the transaction. His despatch, which
bears internal evidence of having been written or revised by
Attorney-General Robinson, is dated the 29th of March--the fourth day
after the prorogation. Under the pretext of asking for advice as to how
he should act in the future in case of any of the officials being
summoned before Parliamentary committees without any notification having
been made to himself, he recounts the story of the Niagara Falls
outrage. His narrative, it is almost needless to say, is from first to
last garbled and